Chandrayaan-3 just 6 days away from Moon's orbit, ISRO will start thrusters on August 1
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has fixed August 1 as the date for sending Chandrayaan-3 from the Earth's orbit to the Moon's orbit. ISRO will fire up the thrusters of Chandrayaan-3 on August 1 between 12 noon and 1 am. Information has been given by ISRO that Chandrayaan-3 is now only 6 days away from reaching the moon's orbit.
![Chandrayaan-3 just 6 days away from Moon's orbit, ISRO will start thrusters on August 1](https://www.sangritoday.com/uploads/images/2023/07/image_750x_64c74184b18b9.jpg)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has fixed August 1 as the date for sending Chandrayaan-3 from the Earth's orbit to the Moon's orbit. ISRO will fire up the thrusters of Chandrayaan-3 on August 1 between 12 noon and 1 am.
Information has been given by ISRO that Chandrayaan-3 is now only 6 days away from reaching the moon's orbit. According to ISRO, the process of trans-lunar injection will take between 28 and 31 minutes to complete. This process will be done at midnight. Also, the thrusters onboard Chandrayaan-3 will be fired when Chandrayaan-3 is at its closest point to Earth (Perigee) and not when it is at its farthest point (Apogee).
Chandrayaan-3 is currently moving around the Earth in an elliptical orbit with a velocity between 1 km/s and 10.3 km/s. The velocity of Chandrayaan-3 is highest (10.3 km/s) at the closest point to the Earth and lowest at the farthest point from the Earth.
While trying to increase the speed of Chandrayaan-3, it will need a higher speed. The second reason is that its angle has to be changed to move towards the Moon, which can be changed at Chandrayaan-3's closest point to Earth.
In the process, the command for Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) will be loaded about five-six hours before the thrusters are switched on. This will help Chandrayaan-3 to change its angle to move toward the Moon. Apart from this, its speed will also increase due to the firing of thrusters. Chandrayaan-3's velocity after TLI is expected to be about 0.5 km/s higher than perigee.
Chandrayaan-3 takes about 51 hours to cover an average distance of 1.2 lakh km, while the average distance between Earth and Moon is 3.8 lakh km. However, the actual distance on any given day will be different depending on the position of the Earth and the Moon.
The more important part of Chandrayaan-3 will happen after the spacecraft reaches the Moon's orbit. Once Chandrayaan-3 reaches the Moon's orbit, ISRO will have to lower Chandrayaan-3's altitude and initiate the process to place it in a circular orbit of 100 km.
According to estimates, the range of distance between the Moon and Earth can be between 3.6 lakh km to 4 lakh km. ISRO has already sent a satellite around the Moon in 2008 (Chandrayaan-1) and 2019 (Chandrayaan-2).
ISRO fixed the separation of the propulsion module from the landing module on August 17. After this, on August 23, an attempt will be made to land Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the moon.